“A few.”
“Like whom?”
She was having trouble thinking. “Atalanta. He spent ten years with her. I-I think he talked to a Fate a couple times. That’s not a god, but still a being. Um…” She scrubbed a hand through her hair. “The night Atalanta was killed, I know he saw it happen. He was a kid then, but… Zeus showed up after she was dead.”
“What about Hades?”
“Um…” She pressed a hand to her cheek. “Yeah. He said he was in the human world once and he came across Hades and Persephone having some kind of fight. It was violent. He ran before it was over. He’s also been around Nick more times than I can count. We both have. Nick lives in Argolea with his mate Cynna. He’s like an uncle to both of us.”
“Fuck.”
“What?” Talisa looked up at Zagreus, standing with both hands perched on his hips, staring into the trees. “Why does it matter which gods Max has ever met?”
He clenched his jaw and looked down at her. “It matters because I’m pretty sure he has any power they ever used in his presence.”
Her brow wrinkled. “That’s not possible.”
“Isn’t it? Just because you haven’t seen him access those powers doesn’t mean he can’t. He just torched a fucking satyr like he’s done it a hundred times. Only gods of a certain level can harness energy like that, and I’m one of them. That amount of energy, at that power? He was around someone who did that at some other time.”
Talisa’s heart raced. It still didn’t make sense, but if true, it meant Max was more valuable as a prisoner than before. “Then we have to get him before it’s too late.”
“We’re not getting him. Let’s go. You’re done catching your breath, and I want to get back before it’s dark.”
He stepped away, but she caught his arm before he could get too far, shocked he was being so blasé about this.
“We are getting him,” she snapped. “It’s our fault he’s a prisoner. We have to rescue him before they kill him.”
Zagreus whirled back to face her. “You think he’s a prisoner? He’s no prisoner. He’s their fucking leader.”
“What?”
“Open your eyes, Talisa. Your little Argonaut cousin is as powerful as any Olympian—probably as powerful as several Olympians. If he didn’t know it before, he sure as shit knows it now. You and me and Ehrendia’s measly band of silens don’t stand a chance against an Olympian with Pandora’s Box. Do you know what that box is? Do you have any idea? Yeah, Pandora might be mortal, but that box is a fucking genie without a wish limit. She can conjure any damn thing she wants from it, and she’s clearly fixed her sights on your cousin. He was as besotted as a schoolboy when they were sucking face. We already know she was working with the satyrs, but she wasn’t powerful enough to lead them herself, which is why she kept trying to get me to come back. Only I wouldn’t, so what did she do? She found the next best thing—or, no, actually, she found something better. Someone stronger. If he’s under her spell—and I guarantee he is—there is no way he’s getting away from her.”
Talisa couldn’t believe what he was saying. How he was saying it. As if it was no big deal. As if Max being controlled by something evil was… expected.
Anger welled inside her as she stared at Zagreus. Anger and a defiance that came out of nowhere.
“The only things we’ve got going for us at the moment,” he went on, “is the fact they don’t know we saw them today, and that the border of Ehrendia is solid. But if you go off with some half-ass scheme to rescue him when he clearly doesn’t want to be rescued, you’re going to screw all that up. You’ll get all of us—including every one of the nymphs back in Ehrendia—killed, and for what? So you can play hero? You’re not doing it. I’m not letting you do it. Come on.”
When he reached for her, she jerked out of his grasp and stepped back, not about to let him touch her. “You coward.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard what I called you. You’re a coward. You’d rather let that bitch continue to mind fuck Max instead of do the right thing.”
“This isn’t about right or wrong. It’s about what you can win and what you can’t. And we can’t win this. Not even close.”
“No.” When he reached for her again, she